Chapter 117: Coral Colony (Patreon)

Coop left the coral platform empty of its previous shrimpy occupant and moved on to find the next. The monster density of the top layer within the Coral Forest had been a bit disappointing so far, but he kept his head up. His improved familiarity with Legacy of the Mists was already worth the trip, and if nothing else, having a better idea of the lay of the land within his own territory was valuable.

He checked his status while he dodged droplets of seawater, falling from the coral encrusted limestone ceiling, having gained another level after just a few engagements.

[Status]

HP - 8960/8960

MP - 14672/16920

Class - Revenant (Level 101)

Profession - Scavenging (Level 95)

Affinity - Spectral

Race - Human (Rank 1)

Faction - None

Strength - 50 (+1692)

Agility - 50 (+846)

Body - 50 (+846)

Mind - 1410 (+282)

Intelligence - 50 (+1692)

Acumen - 50

Unallocated - 0

Titles - Champion III, Haunted, Ethereal, Reaper, Slayer IV, Dauntless, Stacked, Defiant, Siegebreaker

Skills (Active) - Retribution+, Salvation, Presence of Mind, Fog of War

Skills (Passive) - Mind Over Matter, Adamance, Practical Application, Arcane Comprehension

Quests - Fortune Seeker (17/50), Trophy Hunter (4/5), Defeat Ancient Devourers III (0/250), Defeat Primal Serpents III (0/250), Defeat Primal Kites III (5/250), Upgrade Village to Town

Basic Credits - 1,366,908

The biggest change since the last time he took a closer look was the additional 10% Mind bonus added by his under armor. He’d only gained a single class and profession level, but his stats had taken another huge jump thanks to the new equipment. The jump in his mana pool was especially valuable with the additions of Fog of War and Legacy of the Mists putting greater demands on his mana consumption.

Getting his Practical Application to lower the cost of Legacy was a good enough reason to lean more heavily on the newest addition to his build. The sooner he got the 500 mana cost to come down, the better. Besides the normally impossible range of stat scaling that he had bypassed with Revenant passive skills, Legacy was a skill where the only other real limitation appeared to be the cost, and Practical Application was the perfect solution for the mana portion.

Other than his stats going up, his basic credits had shrunk a bit more after he paid Erasimus for the gear, and a few of his quests had progressed slightly, but he would have to dig into those Slayer chains in order to clean up his list some point soon. The Primal Kites were in deep trouble when Coop returned to the surface, and he suspected the Serpents and Devourers wouldn’t fare much better when he started hunting them with more diligence. Legacy of the Mists could potentially make all of his grinding efforts even simpler, especially if he could maintain summoning the phantasms consistently.

Coop fondly remembered grinding the Ancient Defenders and gradually incorporating the mistjumps into his rotations as they became more affordable due to increases in his mana pool and slight decreases in the cost. The increase in efficiency had been so sweet, and now he had another tool that he expected to have a similar impact. Time would tell how much the phantasms would help, but given how much potential he was slowly uncovering, he was confident they would become another gamechanger.

He hopped down to another platform and paused for a moment. In the distance, the sound of shrimp carapaces clicking was drifting through the cavern, joining the steady clatter of water droplets splashing down. It was almost like an audience was unenthusiastically clapping somewhere far away, but Coop recognized it after the sound had already thoroughly countered his Fog of War and his most recent sneak attack.

Coop made no effort to shy away from the sounds. He knew they represented exactly what he was looking for. A dense hunting ground to scour. The excitement he felt as he imagined what he would find was like the anticipation of unwrapping a present.

Coop’s steady march from platform to platform had taken him westward along the northern edge of the cavernous well. The limestone bedrock ceiling was the only layer that remained above his head as he stuck to the top most level in order to continue with stage one monsters. In between massive sea fans and coral outcroppings that were growing off the walls of the cavern, he was able to catch glimpses of more limestone bedrock as it sloped down in the direction he was headed. He was approaching the western edge of the mana well. The sounds he heard were coming from the north western corner.

Anticipating a bigger fight, Coop skipped his comprehensive searches for smaller jewels and headed straight toward the clicking sounds. After crossing three more coral platforms and rounding a bulging column of staghorn branches, he laid eyes on the most massive coral growth yet.

An incredible, blue, purple, and pink foliose coral had claimed the northwestern corner of the mana well. It spiraled upwards like a rounded pyramid with dozens of layers of giant rose petal shaped coral heads until it peaked against the ceiling. Gentle rivers of seawater dripped over the edges forming rivulets that continued until they disappeared underneath other coral platforms. From Coop’s perspective, the foliose coral was both above and below him, creating a structure that easily rivaled the entire fort in size. It was so large, other massive corals had settled on portions of it, creating a pseudo hedge maze of winding, spiraling, and twisting paths.

It was a gargantuan cathedral of natural construction, and it was covered in hundreds, maybe even thousands of visible creatures, looking like miniatures staged along the edges of the coral, with even more bound to be within the nook and crannies of the interior. The Ones That Hunt had an entire coral colony, and the clicks he had been hearing were the result of them challenging each other for positions along the outskirts of the coral levels. It seemed like they were territorial after all, but the rivalries were focused on each other rather than invaders like Coop.

The Coral Forest had never felt claustrophobic, the way a cave system would, but it was certainly dense with features. Moving through it was a lot like walking along the middle level of a rainforest, beneath a dense canopy that formed a solid barrier above, but with lots of room underneath, between twisting branches before the ground level. Despite the sense of scale impressed upon him by the overgrown corals that established entire platforms for him to travel along, he had never expected to find anything so individually large as this incredible coral monument. It certainly seemed like a potential grind zone upon first glance.

Coop already had a brittle ethereal shield prepared, so he took a moment to select a path and plan a route before he jumped in. There was a ledge beneath the platform he stood on that connected to a spiraling outcrop. He could skirt around the outside one portion of the colony if he followed the path, so he thought it would make a promising start.

While he had previously come to the conclusion that going down would increase the monster density along with mana, he hadn’t considered flow patterns that might result in pockets of increased mana. In this case, the edge of the cavern seemed to be an area that was thick with the invisible resource, and it had led to massive growth along with a troupe of the shrimp creatures.

He decided to diligently explore the colony before he continued into the depths. It seemed like the coral pyramid would naturally lead him to lower levels anyway, so he could be patient. Inspecting the nearest monster, he prepared for more combat.

[One That Hunts (Elite Level 101)]

[(Agility)]

[Of The Hunger]

With nothing abnormal in his inspection, Coop dropped to the ledge a dozen feet below his platform and made his way to the first opponent. It waited by itself on a secluded fold of coral, isolated from any of its potential allies, which was why Coop singled it out. He pitched his shield and mistjumped as soon as the shrimp committed its claws to destroy the additional fragments.

When he reappeared, he was already swinging his freshly summoned war fork, slicing through the air with the outer prongs like it was his glaive. The sharp blade smashed into the side of the shrimp, failing to cut through the armor, but with enough force to fold the creature as far as it could bend, leaving its head hanging beyond Coop’s blades like it had been blindsided by a clothesline. This time, he was seeking to batter the creature instead of simply wrangling its claws with the war fork, abandoning crowd control in favor of momentum-based dominance, much more in line with his prior experience.

Coop cast Legacy of the Mists even as his war fork collided with the outer shell of the monster with an enormous crack. The phantasm leapt out of a puff of mist from directly behind Coop’s attack. The ghost was a bare chested, demon-masked warrior who slammed his own ethereal war fork into the completely exposed head of the shrimp as it leaned over Coop’s weapon.

The phantasm disappeared with what seemed like a satisfied nod at the collapsing, headless corpse of the One That Hunts. Coop was equally satisfied with the result, having directed the phantasm to strike exactly where it had. He had used Presence of Mind to highlight his intent, steering an attack the moment that the shrimp’s head was at the apex of its lateral movement while its body folded from his own strike. The phantasm had connected perfectly, with too much precision for it to have been an accident. Coop was newly confident that he could guide highly coordinated attacks with Legacy of the Mists and Presence of Mind.

Coop continued along the outer edge of the coral colony, defeating monsters with uncanny coordination with the phantasms, occasionally glancing over the edge as he moved. The layers of coral continued until his line of sight was blocked by sea fans, sponges, and what looked like car-sized sea anemones. The foliose coral’s base must have been extremely far down, when most of the coral platforms were extensions that branched out of massive pillars or the limestone walls, it alone continued as far as his vision remained unobstructed.

After almost a dozen more shrimp creatures, Coop was fully satisfied with his first test. The results of coordinating with his phantasms were spectacular, achieving a level of cooperation that would be impossible for two individuals to ever reach without something on the level of telepathy.

The next One That Hunts greeted him with an aggressive click, and Coop started his second test after another quick inspection of its aura found nothing unusual. He blasted the creature with ethereal shield shards and instead of mistjumping, tried casting Legacy of the Mists from range while the shrimp was distracted.

The phantasm leapt from the mists, starting about 10 feet directly in front of Coop and attempted to reach the creature, but ultimately couldn’t cover the total distance with its initial attack. The phantasm still ended up having an opening strike zone that was impressive. It could strike more than 15 feet from Coop’s position thanks to its momentum and reach. That was much further than a simple melee attack, putting it firmly into midrange territory.

However, before the phantasm disappeared, it landed with firmly planted feet, maintaining extraordinary balance, and smoothly transitioned from a leaping thrust into a rush forward in an effort to strike its target at least once. The ghost didn’t quite make it, but still managed to double its effective range through its own efforts and remarkable coordination and speed.

Coop crossed part of the empty space between himself and the shrimp, and as the One That Hunts slammed its tail in order to charge, he cast Legacy of the Mists once again. Before the shrimp’s charge got going more than a few feet, the phantasm jabbed through its torso, combining the monster’s forward momentum with its leaping thrust to produce a devastating, killing blow that split the shrimp into two halves.

Coop was once again satisfied with his initial test results. The phantasms weren’t confined to his own melee range, though they did have some restrictions. Coop would be able to use them for midrange skirmishing while he remained relatively safe in addition to coordinating with his own melee brawling. Unlimited range probably would have been too much, even compared to the rest of his overpowered skills. At least, that’s what he told himself.

When Coop selected the Mistwalker path, he had been hoping for powerful spells. He had to admit to feeling disappointment when he didn’t receive any ranged nukes, but the memories of that feeling were fading quickly. The phantasms were almost like spells, but they were even better. They inherited some of the control that Coop had witnessed Charlie applying to the wind, with it receiving her directions, but the ghosts also boasted autonomy that wouldn’t require his continuous micromanagement. Not to mention they were in fact dealing magic damage, just like a spell would. Legacy of the Mists was exceeding all of his expectations.

Coop continued practicing with the phantasms at midrange. It took around 20 more engagements before he was confident in eyeballing the perfect distances with little more than a glance, but there was some variance between weapons that he would need to consider. A spear thrust covered more distance than a glaive chop which was still greater than a morning star slam. He wanted to be able to strike accurately even when he only used his peripheral vision. If an opponent watched his eyes for clues, they wouldn’t be able to derive his intentions easily, but he would still need more practice before he was at that level.

Continuing along the coral path as it ramped slightly upward and looped around the rest of the colony, he only had one more test. The next One That Hunts was a single level weaker than the previous few, but otherwise the same in every other way, including coloration.

Coop didn’t waste any time proceeding with his final examination. His brittle shield shattered across the shrimp’s defenses, and he teleported into melee range where he summoned two phantasms consecutively. They both appeared, though they made an odd couple with equipment from completely different eras, one was in a simple leather and cloth kilt while the other wore heavy duty metal armor with a fully covered helmet.

They were each mid-leap, but to Coop’s surprise, they interfered with each others’ thrusts, despite being incorporeal ghosts, causing both to be slightly off the mark. The shrimp still had no chance under the weight of damage produced by Coop’s massive pile of Intelligence applied twice, once by each phantasm, even from imperfect strikes. Coop leveled up as the monster was defeated despite the less than stellar coordination.

Coop paused after the phantasms disappeared, considering his final test to be a passing score with a flaw in the application methodology. Coop thought he might be able to stack them, but if not, it would be easy to fix the phantasms getting in the way of each other. The problem was that he had summoned them in exactly the same way, directly on top of each other. He could just have them summoned from opposite directions or any other angle with a slight change in his intent. The result would be even better than his initial ideas, since they could provide flanking attacks on their own. Coop might even become redundant if he was willing to dump his mana on having phantasms fight on his behalf.

Coop quickly put his unallocated points into Mind with a mental nudge, and double checked his notification.

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

He was delighted that another level had arrived so soon. The mana well was absolutely proving its worth. These monsters might even be better than true Elites in terms of experience. Coop couldn’t help but be impressed while seeing such rapid progress. Considering it had taken around 35 kills to get another level, and given that he was already at such a high level to begin with, this place would be a gold mine. Higher levels were supposed to take longer, but Coop kept finding ways to maintain his momentum, even as he progressed to new heights.

Coop was itching to continue pursuing more creatures and refine his control over the Legacy of the Mists, but his mana was severely diminished. He was forced into mistjumping back to the platform he had arrived from, so that he could take a break while his mana recovered.

The Ones That Hunt were only easily defeatable because of the magic damage provided by Legacy of the Mists, but that meant he was significantly more reliant on mana than any of his previous grinds. Luckily, Practical Application had already started to kick in, but moving the mana cost from 500 mana each phantasm down to 499, was hardly worth celebrating.

“Damn.” He muttered, shrugging to himself, happy to at least confirm that it worked at all, even if he had hoped it would reduce it by percentages rather than flat amounts.

He perched himself on the edge of the coral platform, kicking his feet over the edge with the coral colony in front and beneath him. From his perspective, he could still see tons of monsters. Most were idle, like the ones he had encountered claiming the center of various platforms where the mana flowed in a way they seemed to enjoy, but there were quite a few battles occurring between pairs of shrimp.

It seemed like most of the combat was occurring on the south side of the coral colony. Interestingly, the fire engine red colored shrimp appeared to be the aggressors, challenging the darker brown shrimp for territory that the other shrimp were already content to occupy. Coop could only surmise that the two factions he had already spotted were somehow rivals within the mana well.

As he relaxed and waited for his mana to recover, he considered which direction to head during his next assault. Avoiding the extra complication of shrimp already fighting each other seemed like the right choice, so he’d stick to the north side, but he already knew he didn’t have the mana to complete a circuit of the colony. He’d just start on a different ledge and travel the same distance before he took another break.

The platform that he was seated on seemed like a pretty nice spot to safely wait, and he didn’t consider the path to reach the location to be overly dangerous. There were only a few shrimp in between the entrance and the platform, so he thought inviting Shane’s party this far could be alright. The question would be if they could even get experience from up on the ledge. They might need to actually participate in combat with the shrimp that he defeated, and that would be an additional challenge to figure out.

Coop leaned back and watched the bioluminescent plumes drift along the edges of the coral rock ceiling. It would be Day 56 by the time his mana was ready to go, but he didn’t mind. The rest of his companions had the settlement under control and his next tasks still had time to cook before they were ready. He basked in the feeling of being unhurried.